The present invention relates to system for archiving user files, and more particularly, to a system for automatically and periodically archiving user files to a selected destination media.
There are many types of potential disasters that may threaten a user""s data. While most users envision disasters caused by flood or fire, more common scenarios are software glitches and hardware damage caused by physical or electric shock, or minor exposure to liquid. In the above cases, the hard disk itself may be undamaged, but the user may be unable to access data until the software is fixed and/or the damaged parts are replaced. If a user cannot wait for repair, it will be necessary to restore near-current data to another computer.
A key to a successful backup strategy is performing backups at a frequency such that important data is protected. Also, the backup media should be reliable and optimally sized to store the entire backup on a single piece of storage media. However, conventional backup utilities are difficult to use and have proprietary or incompatible formats. High capacity backup media, such as tape, requires a dedicated backup device and, often the destination machine does not have a compatible backup device. Further, a backup of data to conventional floppy media may require over a hundred floppy disks and consume hours of time.
Thus, there is a need for a system that simplifies the backup/archive process and provides adequate protection of important data. There is also a need for the backup to be made to high capacity media in a format that is compatible with a other computers. The present invention provides a such solution.
In view of the above, the present invention, through one or more of its various aspects and/or embodiments is thus presented to accomplish advantages over the prior art, such as those noted below.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for archiving data files stored in a computer-readable format on a storage medium accessible by a computing device having a processor, memory and a high capacity media drive. The system includes a mirror application executed by the processor that resides in the memory of the computing device. The mirror application reads data files stored in a user-selected source directory on the storage medium in accordance with predetermined configuration setting and writes the data files to a high capacity media within the high capacity media drive.
In accordance with a feature of the invention, the predetermined configuration settings includes options to store revisions of files in the source directory, and to store files in the source directory to the high capacity media after a period of time elapses. Files may be stored to the high capacity storage media having a revision number appended to the file name thereof.
In accordance with another feature, a current status of the mirror application is provided via an animated icon that indicates at least one of a data copy operation, no high capacity media, monitoring the source directory, and if the mirror application is disabled.
In accordance with yet another feature, the high capacity media is identified by the mirroring application by a unique identifier. The unique identifier may comprise a serial number.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for archiving data files stored in a computer-readable format on a storage medium to a high capacity media drive. The method is executed in a computing device by a mirroring application, and includes monitoring data files in a source directory on the storage medium; reading the data files from the source directory in accordance with predetermined configuration settings; and writing the data files to a high capacity media within the high capacity media drive in accordance with the predetermined configuration settings. The predetermined user-defined configuration settings may include storing revisions of files in the source directory, and storing files in the source directory to the high capacity media after a period of time elapses.
In accordance with a feature of the invention, the act of writing the data files to the high capacity includes appending a revision to a file name of the data files. The method may also include identifying the high capacity media by a unique identifier. The unique identifier may be a serial number of the high capacity media.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions comprising a configuration module containing configuration settings, a reading module to read data files contained within a source directory on a selected storage medium in accordance with the configuration settings, and a writing module to write the data files to a destination high capacity media in accordance with the configuration settings.
In accordance with a feature of the invention, a high capacity media identifier module is provided that reads a unique identifier from the high capacity removable media to verify the identity of the high capacity removable media.
The foregoing and features and advantages of the invention will become evident hereinafter.